Alumni Update from Emily Weston who is a graduate from 2017:
“My name is Jeanie Linton and I am an alumnus of Harding’s undergraduate and graduate programs (2015 and 2017, respectively). After leaving HU, I moved to the Cincinnati area to begin a job working for an educational service center. Our department is 25-30 SLPs deep, including another Harding alum. I am contracted in a rural school district with students in 3rd-12th grades.
As expected, I had vowed to never work in the school setting because I had watched my mom bear the burdens of the special education system in public schools for 30 years. However, during college I had 2 different placements in special needs schools so I started realizing I actually liked the school setting. Additionally, the school setting fits perfectly into my schedule because I spend each summer serving as leadership staff at a Christian camp in VA.
I see anything and everything in the schools which keeps me on my toes. Each day is different and I don’t get tired of one age group since I cover such a wide range. The area I’ve enjoyed learning more about with my students is social-emotional language skills. This is an area of our field I was unaware of before starting my career and is still slowly coming out in academia and research.
Apart from my job, I have partnered with a local Christian children’s home to create and lead an independent living program for ‘young adults in crisis’ who have aged out of the foster care system or have a history thereof. As of now, all of the youth who have lived in our community have all been adopted yet are still in crisis. I am continually learning there is a direct relationship between communication disorders, social-emotional skills, mental illness, and at-risk behaviors in juveniles and young adults with a history of chronic trauma.
Most recently, I’ve jumped into the setting of teletherapy as we try to continue serving our students during the pandemic. It has been a fun experiment and I have seen some benefits compared to in-person therapy. I wouldn’t trade in-person engagement mostly for the relationship. Healthy relationships with my students is the key factor to their progress.
My newest adventure will begin this summer as I begin pursuing the Certificate in Counseling Skills for those in ministry through HU’s Mental Health and Wellness department. This might’ve been a decision made with my pandemic-brain, but it seems like a perfect complement to my current skill set.
I could write an entirely different post about Harding’s role in my life; who I am today and my ministry aspirations. But if you are an alumni reading this, I know I don’t have to explain much. Harding is a safe place for me, it’s home for me in a world that is ever so changing and scary to navigate.”
Thank you for sharing, Jeanie!